“one of Australia’s most versatile and prolific composers”
“an important voice in contemporary classical music”
“her creative vision reigns supreme ”
Photo by Nat Cartney@Rolling Media Productions
Dr Felicity Wilcox is an award-winning Australian composer, whose compositions are performed and broadcast in Australia and internationally. She has received commissions for many leading artists and ensembles, was composer and Assistant Music Director for the 2000 Paralympic Games in Sydney, and has composed the soundtracks for over 60 screen productions (as Felicity Fox). Her recent solo albums have received critical acclaim: her chamber opera Threading the Light (Move 2022) received 5-stars from Fine Music Sydney and her collection of chamber works, Uncovered Ground (Move 2021) received two 5-star reviews and was named ‘Pick of the week’ by music critics at the Sydney Morning Herald.
In Australia, Felicity’s works have been selected for international arts festivals including: Sydney Festival, Vivid Sydney, Canberra International Music Festival, and Sydney Mardi Gras Festival; and have been performed in iconic venues such as Sydney Opera House, Melbourne Recital Centre, and Belvoir St Theatre. Internationally her music has been programmed by arts organisations such as: Bang on a Can Festival (NYC), Philadelphia Orchestra, New Music Network (USA), TurnUP Festival (USA), Sadari Theatre (Seoul), Claire Merviel Productions (Paris), Royal College of Music (London), Royal Northern College of Music (Manchester), Pantopia Festival (Berlin), and Balderin Sali (Helsinki), and has featured in international film festivals including Venice, Paris, Toronto, Berlin, Tokyo and others. Her film music has been shortlisted for three AFI/AACTA Awards, and an ARIA Award, as well as winning APRA/AGSC Screen Music Awards and a FIFREC Award (France) for Best Music for Film.
Felicity is a recipient of a prestigious Discovery Early Career Researcher Award from the Australian Government, awarded to conduct research on gender in opera, and to compose a new contemporary chamber opera. She lives on unceded Darug Country in the Blue Mountains, NSW, Australia.
NEWS
ARTIST RESIDENCY, LA GÉNÉRALE, PARIS, APRIL 13-21 AND JUNE 15-19
From Nature to Aether is a new improvisation and recording project by Felicity Wilcox (piano/voice) and Gwenaëlle Roulleau (electronics) that evokes a connection to nature—its elements, rhythms, and harmonies—and the forces that disrupt it, through turmoil, obsession, and distortion. New album forthcoming late 2026. Made possible with the generous support of La Générale.
creative australia funding secured for final development of emergenc/y
Felicity’s opera Emergenc/y, currently in development with librettist Alana Valentine and a stellar team of creatives has just been awarded further funding under Creative Australia’s ‘Projects for Individuals’ grants. This generous award will cover the completion of the opera, and includes artist fees; workshops; a showing to industry at Phoenix Church to secure a production; and a professional recording.
On behalf of the project team, Felicity would like to acknowledge all the funders who have contributed to this project so far: the Australian Research Council, Creative Australia, and The Seaborn, Broughton & Walford Foundation and in-kind support received from: University of Technology Sydney, Fluxus Opera, and Phoenix Church.
Emergenc/y development workshops February 2025 (filmed and recorded by UTS MediaLab).
FORTHCOMING PERFORMANCES 2026
The below performances of Felicity’s music are already confirmed for 2026. Stay updated here as new ones are listed.
7 January 2026: Peninsula Summer Music Festival Victoria, Main Ridge Estate: Tambourin, People of This Place, performed by Ensemble Offspring
25-28 April 2026: The Night With… Festival, Edinburgh, Cromarty, Aberdeen, Glasgow: People of This Place, Call and (a) Response, performed by Ensemble Offspring
16 May 2026: W.E.S.T. (Wilcox, Encarnaçao, Swanton Trio), 100clicksWest Festival, Wentworth Falls, NSW.
10 October 2026: Earthly Futures, Montreuil, Paris. To the Sea, Currawong Call, performed by Anna McMichael
W.E.S.T. improvisation extract with artwork by Grayson Cooke
Australian Academy of the Humanities, November 13-14, 2025
Felicity gave the opening keynote address for the annual AAH Conference taking place at University of Technology Sydney with ‘Reclaiming opera for women and gender minorities through process and practice’.
CINÉ-CONCERT AT UNIVERSITY EVRY PARIS-SACLAY
Tuesday 7 October, 12pm, 2025
Felicity presented some of her audiovisual work in a free public ciné-concert in Paris.
Vivre Sa Vie Composer's Cut - fixed video work [16’]
Snow Falling - fixed video work [4’30]
Isolation Suite -live performance: prepared piano, electronics, and video [30’]
People of This Place released for the 5th time on a new compilation album!
Jason Noble’s exciting new recording of Felicity’s bass clarinet work People of This Place was released in April 2024, on Red Earth Luminous Connections, a beautiful compilation recorded live at Pantopia Festival in Berlin during Ensemble Offspring’s 2023 European tour.
‘Unified by themes of nature, universal concepts through the shared language of instrumental chamber music by First Nations composers alongside western heavyweights.’
Dr Felicity wilcox and Dr Barrie Shannon publish report on women and minority genders in music
The Women and Minority Genders in Music report by Dr Felicity Wilcox and Dr Barrie Shannon presents new, primary data about the lived experience of over 200 music creators of diverse genders in Australia and Aotearoa/New Zealand. It provides a unique insight into present-day music creation from practitioners active across a wide spectrum of musical genres. Co-designed and co-authored by a female and gender diverse research team, the Women and Minority Genders in Music report offers an important snapshot of the ‘matrix of barriers’ that prevents access to equal representation and achievement for women and gender diverse music creators. This research was supported in-kind by music industry organisation, APRA AMCOS, and funded by the School of Communication, University of Technology Sydney.
Sound Fields
‘A balanced blend of mystical timbres’- Julie McErlain (Classic Melbourne)
Read all about the commission and composition process in Limelight.
Sound Fields is the 2021 Pythia Prize commission for Melbourne-based ensemble Rubiks Collective. The work is Wilcox’s response to art works by US painter Helen Frankenthaler, who is widely credited for playing a pivotal role in the transition from Abstract Expressionism to Color Field painting. Wilcox worked closely with the Helen Frankenthaler Foundation in New York City and with the members of Rubiks while making this piece, which is accompanied by projections of each luminiscent artwork.
WP Performance: 26 October 2022, Primrose Potter Salon, Melbourne Recital Centre.
On 10 May 2023 Rubiks launched the beautiful new video of Sound Fields (see left) made by Underground Media. Felicity was invited to a special event held for the 2021 Pythia Prize funders to discuss the making of her prize-winning work with Rubiks Artistic Directors, Tamara Kohler and Kaylie Melville, and cellist Gemme Kneale. The team is now seeking to secure a US premiere of the work in 2024.
